The advantages obtained from the application of fabric conditioning agents (i.e., fabric softeners and/or antistatic agents) to laundered fabrics are well known. The present invention particularly pertains to dryer activated softener compositions including coated particulate softener/antistatic compositions which survive the wash process and release the active softening/antistatic agent and perfumes to the laundered fabrics in the dryer.
Perfumes are a desirable part of the laundry process. They are used to cover up the chemical odors of the cleaning ingredients and provide an aesthetic benefit to the wash process and, preferably, the cleaned fabrics. However, perfumes are, in general, volatile and many perfume ingredients can be destroyed or damaged by contact with cleaning ingredients, especially alkali and bleaches.
One solution to this incompatibility problem is encapsulation of the perfume. This increases the expense and does not always provide sufficient protection. It has been suggested to put encapsulated perfumes into fabric softener particles designed to survive the wash to provide additional protection and maximize delivery of the perfume to the fabrics.
Detergent compositions containing softening compounds are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,537, Baskerville Jr., issued Feb. 3, 1976, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,946, Jones, issued June 20, 1978, teach the use of intimate mixtures of organic dispersion inhibitors (e.g., stearyl alcohol and fatty sorbitan esters) with solid fabric softener to improve the survival of the softener in the presence of detergent in the washer so the softener can act on the fabrics when it melts in the dryer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,627, Schilling, issued Nov. 18, 1980, teaches microencapsulation of fabric softener. The microcapsules survive the wash and adhere to the fabric surface. They are then ruptured by subsequent tumbling of the fabric in the dryer, thereby releasing softener to the fabrics.
It is known in the food industry to put flavors onto silica gel particles to form dry, flowable flavor powders. Flavor oil to silica gel ratios of up to 3:1 can be used. When the particles are added to water, the flavor is released.